TORIES TO WAGE WAR ON WORKSHY October 4, 2009 CONSERVATIVE leader David Cameron yesterday promised to shake up Britain’s complex welfare system and to slash the numbers of long-term unemployed. Speaking on the eve of the four-day Tory party conference in Manchester, Cameron promised to use tax reform and deregulation to help employers take on new staff. He said private training firms would be [...]
TNinety-eight US banks have failed this year October 4, 2009 THREE more US banks have collapsed, pushing the total number of banking failures in the country so far this year to 98. An average of ten US banks have failed in every month of this year – the highest tally since 1992, when 181 banks went under. And the figure is nearly four times as [...]
StanChart ends talks with RBS October 4, 2009 AN ATTEMPT by Asia-focused bank Standard Chartered to snap up assets from stricken Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has failed, City A.M. can confirm. Talks between the banks over the sale of around $200m (£126m) of RBS assets in China, India and Malaysia have collapsed after the pair failed to agree on a price. RBS [...]
Big government Britain isn’t working October 4, 2009 NEXT year, government spending in Britain will reach 54.1 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), up from 36.6 per cent in 2000. This devastating statistic, buried one the OECD’s website, has been largely overlooked; yet it is one of the most important facts that everybody should know about today’s Britain. It demonstrates that almost [...]
Labour lays out cuts plans October 4, 2009 CHANCELLOR Alistair Darling said yesterday he was having “robust” talks with other cabinet ministers over future spending cuts. He told the International Monetary Fund (IMF) the battle to reduce the deficit would require tough choices, but said Tory plans for immediate cuts risked “crashing the economy”. Speaking in Istanbul, he said Labour would continue to [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPER SAY THIS MORNING October 4, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMESBERMUDA LOOKS TO BECOME HUB FOR CAT BONDSBermuda is making a push to become a leading centre for catastrophe bonds and other forms of specialist insurance investment by creating a special type of regulatory regime. Matthew Elderfield, chief executive of the Bermuda Monetary Authority, expects the next wave of capital that enters the insurance [...]
Banks to defend dark pools October 4, 2009 The Investment Banking Association is today expected to reject claims from European stock exchanges that “dark pool” trading facilities have created an uneven playing field. It will argue that they provide a legitimate service and encourage liquidity in the market. Dark pools enable investors to trade large blocks of shares anonymously without prices being revealed [...]
Mittal set to pull out of deal October 4, 2009 Steel company ArcelorMittal is close to pulling out of a $20bn (£12.5bn) plan to build two steel plants in India due to difficulties buying land, its chairman and biggest shareholder Lakshmi Mittal said. Delays in persuading farmers and others to sell land for the development in the states of Jharkand and Orissa were holding up [...]
BAE prepared for fine October 4, 2009 DEFENCE giant BAE Systems is prepared to pay a record breaking fine over bribery allegations, sources close to the situation said yesterday, if “compelling evidence” indicates the charges against it are true. The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) said last week it wanted to prosecute Europe’s biggest defence contractor over allegations the firm used bribery and [...]
HSBCsells NYCoffice for $330m October 4, 2009 HSBC yesterday agreed to sell its New York headquarters to Israel’s Koor Industries and Property and Building for $330m (£207m). Koor and Property and Building are both subsidiaries of Israeli holding company IDB Holding, which said it would receive $45m in rental income in the first year while operating expenses will total $18.5m. The bank [...]
